Bill to lift restrictions on Tweed runway to be aired Monday

Hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in Hartford

NEW HAVEN — A bill that would eliminate the restriction on the length of the main runway at Tweed New Haven Regional Airport will be aired Monday in a public hearing in front of the General Assembly Transportation Committee.

The hearing on the “raised bill” is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in Room 1E of the Legislative Office Building at the State Capitol.

The Tweed New Haven Airport Authority’s interim executive director, Guilford First Selectman Matt Hoey, said Tweed supporters, including him, are planning to attend.

“It’s my understanding that we’ll have a pretty fair representation from the region up there,” Hoey said. “There will be at least one or two board members up there presenting testimony. There will be a couple of biotech companies up there,” along with representatives of New Haven Mayor Toni Harp and Yale University, among others.

“The message is, I think, consistent, and that is, the runway length is a limiting factor in the viability of Tweed as a regional airport,” Hoey said.

But supporters recognize that Tweed’s relationship with the Connecticut Airport Authority still must be worked out, “and finally, a package of community benefits” for adjacent neighborhoods in New Haven and East Haven “would need to be attached to this,” Hoey said.

“The board is aware of that, and is working to better define what those benefits might be,” he said.

Tweed supporters, led by Mayor Harp, want permission to pave the existing, unpaved runway safety areas to expand the airport’s 5,600-foot main runway to 6,000 feet — and have said that at least one airline, Allegiant Air, would begin new service were Tweed to get what it seeks.

But a state statute passed in 2009, based on a settlement between former New Haven Mayor John DeSteftano Jr. and former East Haven Mayor April Capone, bars Tweed from lengthening the runway even if it remains within existing airport boundaries.

Harp could not immediately be reached for comment.

Tweed currently is served by one airline, American Eagle, which flies regional jets between Tweed and two destinations: Philadelphia and Charlotte, N.C. The airport also is in federal court with the state to try to overturn the statute that limits the runway’s length. The case is pending before the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

Whether the bill will make it out of committee at this point remains to be seen, said both the Democratic and Republican leaders of the state Senate, President Pro Tempore Sen. Martin Looney, D-New Haven, and Senate Minority Leader Leonard Fasano, R-North Haven — who both represent parts of the area in which Tweed is located.

“Nothing has changed,” although “it was a very productive meeting earlier this week” between Len Fasano, (state Rep.) Al Paolillo (D-New Haven) and Looney, who all met with Gov. Ned Lamont, Looney said.

If the Tweed bill ever passes, “That can’t happen in a vacuum,” Looney said.

Lamont “is interested to try to find a way to move forward with this project,” but also wanted to “make sure that the adjoining neighborhoods are protected,” Looney said. “The governor is interested in coming up with something that would address the concerns of the neighborhood.”

Fasano, who owns property off the southern end of the runway, including the Silver Sands Beach Club, said that he, Looney and Paolillo “are of the same mind: There was a deal struck. New Haven gave us their word ... Toni Harp voted for the deal when she was a state senator.”

He said he didn’t see the bill being successful.

Transportation Committee Co-Chairman Roland Lemar, D-New Haven, could not immediately be reached for comment.